Blake Thornton claims victory in Round 1 of Quiksilver Saquarema Prime – Surfing News
Australia’s Blake Thornton confirmed his place in the second round (Round of 48) of the Quiksilver Saquarema Prime presented by Coca-Cola after emerging triumphant in the 17th heat of Round 1 (Round of 96) that went down at the point-break of
Itauna Beach in Saquarema, Brazil, on Tuesday, May 22.
Brazil’s Yan Guimarares was successful in extending his life in the event as well by securing runner-up place. America’s CJ Hobgood and Brazil’s Bernardo Miranda rounded out the bottom-two positions to find themselves eliminated from the race for the event
title.
The opening day of the latest Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) PRIME event had turned out to be as exciting as expected. The world’s top surfers made the most of the six-to-eight foot waves on offer at Itauna Beach to put forward a series of exquisite
performances. The motivation to perform well was high due to the rewards that were up for grab, which included a share of the $US 250,000 and ASP ranking points.
The 17th heat of Round 1 pitted Thornton against Guimarares, Hobgood and Miranda. All four surfers were equally matched and perfectly capable of stealing the show.
As the battle got underway, Thornton wasted very little time in finding his rhythm and building momentum. He moved into position to get hold of a promising left-hander and utilised it to pull off a few quick turns. The effort earned him a 6.83 to put him
in the lead. Adding another score in the six-point range to his account, the Australian surfer reached a heat-total of 13.26 points, which held up until the end to earn him the win.
Guimarares was unable to make the most of his local knowledge of the waves and eventually had to settle for runner-up place after collecting a 5.57 and 6.33 off his best-two waves for a heat-total of 11.90 points.
Hobgood did not have much luck with the waves. He did manage to catch an impressive 7.00-point wave, but failed to back it up with another good score and eventually finished with a heat-total of 11.50 points.
Miranda did not do any better than his American rival. He scored a 5.50 and 5.17 off the only two waves that he was able to catch during the course of the battle to finish in fourth place with a heat-total of 10.67 points.
Both Hobgood and Miranda found themselves leaving the competition field on the very first day of the competition as a result of their bottom-two finish.
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